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Page 27 text:
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BLUE AND GOLD [Being extracts from a description of a strange and hitherto unknown country called Yelekreb, by one GEMUEL LULLIVER.] T ne manners an d customs of the people among whom I now found myself were far different from those of the people I had formerly visited. As I had yet but a very imper- fect knowledge of their language, though quite ready in learning a new tongue, my kind guardian took great pains with me, and in the course of our conversations gave me much information in regard to the history and people of the country. And, I may make bold to say, my accounts of my own country seemed to please him quite well, and thus we derived mutual satisfaction from our talks, which we often prolonged far into the night ; for these people are very prolix in speech and fond of expres- sing their ideas upon any subject whatever, even though it be one they have never heard of before. The form and workings of their government was at first a source of great astonishment to me. The principal power lies in the hands of a council, who dwell on another island. The basis on which new members of the council are chosen, is hostility to anyone who may be their associate, and hatred of the home gov- ernment. They must also be completely ignorant of the object of the council, and never, under penalty of death, visit Yelekreb. The wisdom of this system, my protector informed me, was, that by this continual opposition, the home government is de- terred from doing any mischief. For unrestricted power, as anyone knows, is dangerous. At the head of the council and state is the King. A change in the dynasty had taken place a short time before my arrival, the former king being banished and all records of him obliterated. I found it very difficult to catch sight of the present sovereign on account of his being continually engaged in preventing the earth from bumping against the sun, which would of course re- sult in the annihilation of both. And even when he was free from his laborious task, the nobility swarmed around him and prevented any access to him. They did this, I conjectured, that there might be no danger of assassination ; for then one of their own number would succeed to the throne and surely be killed One Janitorius.
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Page 28 text:
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BLUE AND GOLD by the others through jealousy. These nobles form the home parliament, and are chosen according to their ability to look through a millstone. They are considered the most learned body in the kingdom. Their tenure of office is uncertain, depending chiefly upon the number of forms into which they can twist their tongues, which the upper council from time to time records, and upon their ability to look through the aforesaid millstone. They are also divided, according to the tribe from which they come and place of eating their mid-day meal, into the Teutonic and Saxon elements. Their occupations are various. One vener- able man had spent his entire life in searching for the original human, but, I was sorry to learn, had not yet found him. It was currently reported that he had even penetrated into the centre of the earth in his search. Another dapper old noble was busily engaged in trying to make water run up hill. Near him was a swarthy bearish man, who, I was told, had been lately admitted to the peerage. My guide could not tell why, nor could I in my short view of him see the cause of his new dignity. His intimate relationship with the upper council, how- ever, may have had something to do with it. My friend next pointed me out another newly chosen member of the Saxon tribe. He seemed to be gazing steadily into the millstone, in fact he had two round transparent frames before his eyes in order, no doubt, that he might see further. He had been long engaged upon the invention of a machine, with which he, by simply turning a crank, might find the maximum number of words to express nothing. He has already nearly perfected his design, I believe, and is now looked upon as a very great man. A large bovine-eyed man was compounding a mixture to blow up the world. He confidently whispered to my guide that but one more drop was necessary and that after spending a few years experimenting as to the size of a drop, he expected to win immor- tal fame by blowing up the universe. A short, thickset noble happening just then to pass by, I asked my friend what his par- ticular business in the community was. He answered that he was supposed to be compiling a recipe-book. This he prepares by collecting all the opinions of mankind upon all subjects whatso- ever, cutting them into little slips of a word each and then by a little invention of his own, matching them together, much as I have seen boys match small blocks, until they form an harmo- nious whole.
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